Good Samaritan given parking ticket when she stopped in disabled bay to help woman who collapsed in the street

Good Samaritan given parking ticket when she stopped in disabled bay to help woman who collapsed in the streetLesley Mair abandoned her car in Edinburgh street to help young womanBut when she returned to her car she had
been booked for illegal parking

By
Jane Borland

PUBLISHED:

11:56 GMT, 1 February 2013

|

UPDATED:

12:08 GMT, 1 February 2013

When Lesley Mair leapt out of her car to help a collapsed woman, most bystanders saw her as a Good Samaritan.

But it appears that Edinburgh’s notorious parking attendants saw her as nothing more than an errant motorist, and gave her a ticket for leaving her vehicle in a disabled bay.

Miss Mair, 43, abandoned her car in the city’s Portobello High Street as she rushed to the aid of a young woman sprawled face down on the pavement.

Annoyed: Lesley Mair was given a parking ticket for leaving her vehicle in a disabled bay in Edinburgh after she leapt out of her car to help a collapsed woman

However after helping the casualty recover in a nearby bank, Miss Mair returned to her car to find she had been booked for illegal parking.

The credit control manager had been driving to work at a book wholesaler in Leith, Edinburgh, when she spotted the woman ‘out cold’ and pulled over to help.

She said: ‘I thought the girl was dead at first, but after a while she regained consciousness and I think she’d had a seizure or blacked out.

‘Obviously, I panicked when I saw that and parked up quickly to get to her. At the same time two people arrived to help and when she came round she was a bit groggy and dazed.

‘She was complaining of stomach pains, so we took her into the Bank of Scotland to keep her warm and called an ambulance.

‘It was while we were in there I noticed I was getting a parking ticket – it had been a matter of moments.

‘My only concern was for the lady on the street, I wasn’t looking where I was parking.’

Harsh: Despite her kind actions, it appears that Edinburgh's notorious parking attendants saw Miss Mair as nothing more than an errant motorist

Bosses at NSL, which manages the city’s parking attendants, said they were ‘entirely satisfied’ that their attendant acted in a ‘sympathetic and professional way’.

But Miss Mair, from Musselburgh, East Lothian, branded her treatment as ‘yet another example of an over-zealous parking attendant’ who was ‘chasing commission’. She said: ‘The parking attendant must have looked over and seen the commotion going on.

‘I am utterly appalled by the lack of consideration given by this man who, when I told him the situation, just shrugged his shoulders and turned his back on me.’

It is understood the ill woman was taken to hospital by paramedics. Her condition is not known.

Onlookers said that they were astonished as they watched the parking attendant move in on the car.

A shopworker who had a clear view of the incident said: ‘We saw the woman being helped by some people and then being taken into the bank.

‘Next thing there was a parking attendant looking at the cars and he started writing a ticket. It’s unbelievable he could do that.’

Councillor Lesley Hinds, Edinburgh’s transport convener, said: ‘If Miss Mair was assisting with a medical emergency, we will of course cancel the ticket when she raises it with us.

‘We will also take her comments regarding the conduct of the parking attendant seriously and will investigate the matter with NSL.’